August Sports Blog - Recapping Gareth Bale, Usain Bolt, New York Yankees and more

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Another month passed, another calendar full of sports records to enjoy.

This month we take a wide-ranging look at records broken in the world of professional sports, from the golf course to the soccer pitch to the athletics track.

But don’t forget after you’re done reading to check out the August Sports Vlog at the bottom of the page. It’s full of video highlights recapping some of the best records broken by fans like yourself this month. Have you ever seen someone swing a 4.37 m (14 ft 5 in) golf club? Now’s your chance! But first, let's check in on the pros.

ONE EXPENSIVE WELSHMAN

Perhaps the biggest August news in sports came at the absolute deadline, with Real Madrid securing the rights to Gareth Bale via a record 85.3 million ($132.9 million) transfer fee. For our unique breakdown of the historic deal, make sure to check out the 11 Other Ways Real Madrid Could’ve Spent the Transfer Fee.

GET YOUR RUNNING SHOES

The not-always-perfect weather conditions in Moscow this month ensured that no world records for specific performances were broken at this year’s IAAF World Championships. But that didn’t mean record achievements weren’t set.

Usain Bolt, for one, continued to amaze. The sprinter left Russia with three gold medals (100 m, 200 m, 4 x 100 m), taking his career tally to eight gold and two silves at the World Championships – making him the most successful athlete in the competition’s history.

Bolt’s Jamaican teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (below) made history of her own in Moscow. Like Bolt, she swept the three sprint categories and, in so doing, became the first woman to ever win all three events at a single Championships.

AROUND THE HORN

In baseball, no team dominated the headlines of August like the New York Yankees. And that was without even talking about anything they did on the field. Once you moved past the A-Rod scandals and Derek Jeter rehabilitations, though, the Yankees also provided a pair of interesting nuggets in a record-setting context.

First, outfielder Ichiro Suzuki (pictured, top of post) knocked his 4,000 th career base hit this month, a combined total between his time in Major League Baseball and playing professionally in Japan. To put that in perspective, only two players have ever recorded 4,000 hits in MLB history: Ty Cobb (4,189) and the man with the most hits ever, Pete Rose (4,256) – two players you may have heard of. And no man has ever surpassed even 3,100 hits in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, putting Ichiro in a unique class all his own.

The Pinstripes are also barreling in on a dubious record: the most position players used in a single season. The record is 33 and the Yankees have currently trotted 32 position players out this season. With a month of baseball left to play, the record could easily be theirs soon.

FORE!

As we head to the 18 th hole of this blog, a couple of golf records to keep in mind from the past month:

While he continues to struggle with that elusive major since winning the 2008 U.S. Open, Tiger Woods does keep winning tournaments. His August 4 win of the Bridgestone Invitational took Woods to 79 career PGA Tour victories. That continues to be good for second all time and moved him one closer to Sam Snead’s record of 82 wins.

One record was set – or, at least, matched – at a major this month. Jason Dufner shot a second-round 63 at the U.S. Open at Oak Hill, tying the mark for the lowest round at a golf major. It became the 12 th such instance of a golfer firing a 63 at a major.

And that does it for August! For even more golf, watch this must-see video for the crazy club we mentioned at the top of the post. And also check out highlights of records set at this year’s Pogopalooza competition, plus someone running a half marathon…in full fireman’s uniform.